Ok clearly this is bat shit, but it would be cool if trees scaled to that size. Like an entire town is under the shade of a single massive tree

Veep ass story

You’re right, we shouldn’t regulate this type of speech. I’m not proposing we outlaw calling someone “a Karen.” I’m arguing that people who care about how others feel should reconsider this type of joke.

You mentioned that this sort of thing is only a problem if you’re surrounded by morons. Let’s be generous and call them people who don’t see things your way. Isn’t that all of life? I gave the example of a child named Alexa because it’s a literal real life example. It is a thing that happens, not a hypothetical. I have a kind and quiet family member named Karen, and it’s a nuisance in her life.

You mentioned egocentrism. Isn’t it egocentric to think “I will say whatever I want and if that makes someone else feel bad who cares?” I try to live my life in a way where I’m not knowingly causing other people discomfort. Sometimes that’s not possible for good reason. We can still try.

That’s a real boring thing to say.

I encourage you to put yourself in someone else’s shoes. The “joke” is there’s this archetypal character who is often named Karen who is entitled and makes unreasonable demands. If your name is Karen, that sucks. It’s not about egocentrism, the villain in this joke is literally named Karen. Imagine you couldn’t go through life and raise a concern about any issue because someone would be like “har har, you’re being a real Karen”. Even if it’s a joke, when you hear it a thousand times that gets old and it sucks.

I have some friends who named their daughter Alexa before Amazon released the virtual assistant with the same name. Kids at school tease her. She can’t go by Alexa, she has to go by Lex. Again, I encourage you to imagine yourself in someone else’s place.

Easy for you to say if that’s not your name. I don’t have any hope of dissuading people from using the name that way, but imagine your name was “motherfucker” and it was a completely new combination of letters, no one had any negative connotation associated with it, then all of the sudden everyone is calling each other motherfucker and it means “fucking someone’s mom.” You probably would be pretty bummed out. Doesn’t matter if you know someone calling someone else a motherfucker isn’t referring to your birth name.

Pretty interesting.

Ah ok, it’s a 2016 clip so this article is a hit from someone else who wants the VP slot

Well that’s how I got thinking about this - they’re not fine to eat some foods which seem innocuous to a human, it could kill them, like grapes. Some commenters here have talked about sort of the condition of food - if it’s old, spoiled, has bacteria or maybe parasites. But I’m curious specifically about food that’s inherently toxic to humans, even in pristine condition, which isn’t to dogs.

Man, Tarrare is always worth reading about

Do you think there are situations where conscription is appropriate?

When the country is doing stupid shit like invading Iraq I’m opposed to the draft. When it’s defending against an existential threat which is on native soil, I don’t have as much sympathy for people avoiding the draft.

?

The article I shared is about how solar is now the cheapest form of power. So that is what’s happening.

I’m saying it does matter. When you go to a business and say you can buy a widget for $1000, or for $500, and they both do the same thing, the business will choose the cheaper one. Sure, lobbying will get businesses some favors, loosen some regulation, get some subsidies, but at a certain point it’s not enough, the economics take over.

You’re right that people have been thinking about and working on renewable energy for a long time. However what’s only become true very recently is that it’s cheaper to generate energy using renewable sources than to use fossil fuels. That’s a massive milestone because when a new power source is built it will more likely than not be renewable.

People making sacrifices is important, but what if you weren’t only giving people the opportunity to help the environment, but also to improve their bottom line? Makes the pitch a lot easier and helps us to build momentum in the right direction.

Lol their joke is that the layout doesn’t actually match a piano. Normally there are seven white keys and five black keys. So E# isn’t a thing, that’s just F. And B# isn’t a thing, that’s C.

You’re right, we’ve got to get rid of fossil fuel. As one example, the article talks about how energy storage has reduced the need for gas peaker plants. In California in April the power required from those plants was half what it’s been in April the prior three years.

Still plenty of progress that needs to be made, but what’s notable is that it’s now cheaper for a business to turn to green energy and storage to solve a problem. There’s not an incentive to build new polluting tech. So while the impact of climate change is going to get worse (because those emissions and warming are already baked in) the business argument for fossil fuel is no longer viable.

Yes, we need more storage and generation. The author didn’t say we’re all good and nothing more needs to be done. What’s noteworthy is that renewable energy is cheaper than CO2 emitting, and battery storage is cheaper than peaker plants. (And grid battery can come from things like salt, sand, brick along with better known components like hydro storage, doesn’t have to be rare earth elements)

It’s ok to acknowledge when good things happen while also recognizing bad things.

With respect, I think you’re projecting a discussion with a different person onto this article.

You’re right, the climate is going to get worse before it gets better. You’re right, the impacts of climate change will disproportionately affect poor and underdeveloped areas. We can’t make that go away with positive thinking, and it’s not enough for humans as a species to survive, we need to focus on reducing suffering while we’re turning the ship.

What I took away from this article is that the market forces for cheap renewable power and the means to store it are now stronger than the forces for CO2 emitting power. And those forces are moving faster than predicted. That’s good, and it’s ok to talk about something good when it’s true!

People who have been paying attention and care about others have good reason to be wary about the narrative “oh, everything is going to be fine” because that’s what industry and politicians have been saying for a long time instead of taking needed action.

We’re at a point where most people recognize climate change is real, and they can see it’s effects. We’re also at a point where many people don’t have hope for the situation. It’s dangerous to tell people “shit’s fucked and there’s nothing you can do about it” because they might believe you and do nothing.

You can tell because the Math mascot, Venom, is also in the image